Digging around for dog-eared books

IF ONLY the shelves could make a sound, they would groan under the weight of the 7,000 tomes they nestle in 30 square meters of space. The walls would whisper of the stories these books hold, which cover a broad range of topics.

This bookstore holds titles about practically any topic under the sun, from general fiction, non-fiction, religion, spirituality, the occult, sports, business and finance, to romance, science fiction, mystery thriller, young adult, lifestyle, food and beverage and children’s books.

Bookworms can bury their nose between the pages of previously owned books all day at La Belle Aurore Bookshop located at Hernan Cortes Street, Banilad, Mandaue City. The soft, strained notes of jazz and classical music plays in the background, helping customers ease their mind so they can absorb what they are reading. The interiors are done in a do-it-yourself, shabby chic fashion, inspired by the quaint European bookstores that the owner and proprietor, Joseff Lee, saw in the Before Sunrise Before Sunset movies.

Lee has always been interested in books, describing himself as a casual reader since childhood. When Lee observed how costly buying brand new books could be, he saw a window of opportunity to sell second hand ones. He started buying a bunch of them online just for personal consumpti n and over time, looked for other sources to buy from.

Leveraging the power of cyberspace, he asked netizens what they thought of a secondhand bookstore opening in Cebu, even posting a list of titles at istorya.net.

When the orders picked up, he went full speed at his business venture and opened La Belle Aurore in December 2009.

While Lee is mostly busy with inventory, he likes to make small talk with customers from time to time, be it a taxi driver who did not finish school but is eager to read technical books or academicians who look for a specific author to further their studies. He is happy to see workers from the neighboring industrial companies drop by to buy a book for themselves or for their kids.

Digging around here, one might find something to add to his reading list.